In its all-sky survey, the ESA global astrometry mission Gaia will perform high-precision astrometric measurements (complemented by onboard spectrophotometry and partial spectroscopy) for 1 billion stars down to V = 20 mag. The data collected in the Gaia catalogue, to be published by the beginning of the next decade, will likely revolutionize our understanding of many aspects of stellar and Galactic astronomy. Gaia was succcessfully launched from ESA's Kourou site in the French Guyana on December 19th, 2013. I will briefly review the Gaia mission organization and status of operations, the latest results from commissioning after launch, and the scenario for intermediate data releases. I will then illustrate the potential of microarcsecond astrometry for important contributions to exoplanetary science astrophysics, with particular attention to its promise for improved global understanding of planetary systems when synergistically combined with other indirect and direct detection and characterization techniques.